Summer Fever!

We went to the local farmer's market yesterday morning and found it swung into high gear already. Locally grown produce, starter plants for herbs and flowers, a lady selling agua fresca, long lines for kettle corn. It smells like summer. We've got it bad. Just planted tomatoes and basil for the patio garden. Then, covered in dirt, I built a fire in the fire pit and grilled some veggie dogs and corn. Rather than buying that lady's agua fresca, Zips bought me a small locally grown watermelon (it's a little early in the season), and cut out all the flesh, whizzed it up in the blender, and strained it twice-- creating an entire pitcher of juice for the same price as a single styrofoam cup filled with melting ice and a little melon juice! Wanting to contribute more (and not overindulge in charred processed veggie meats), Zips found a recipe on the label of a can of garbanzo beans that looked good. The recipe is called "Rockin' Moroccan Pita" and involves cooking chicken breasts in cumin and chili powder, then tossing with garbanzos and stuffing it all into pita pockets topped with yogurt. All the elements are there for a new twist on a bean salad, so Zips took a 12oz. bag of Quorn chick'n tenders and grabbed a couple of ears of roasted corn and invented:

Mexican Double "Chick"pea Salad

blend together

1 Tb. ground cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

4 Tb. olive oil.

and toss in chick'n tenders, coating them thoroughly. Heat chick'n tenders in a pot (you can add 1/2c. water-- we did this in a pot over the fire and heated it until most of the water evaporated).

In the meantime, combine

1 16oz. can of chick peas (drained, rinsed)

3 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 tomato, diced

1-2 cobs worth of roasted corn, de-kerneled

1/2 c. parsley, chopped

juice of 2 lemons

drizzle of olive oil

Combine seasoned chick'n to the bean mixture and serve warm or cooled.

I realize the bean company called this "Rockin' Moroccan," but with the cumin and chili and roasted corn, we agreed this tastes decidedly south of the border. The "Double Chick" comes from the combination of chick'n and chick-pea (and it's more fun to say than chickenchickpea salad) It's delicious!

My other obsession this weekend is the memory of the crepe suzette haunting me from La Creperie in Chicago. I already had a crepe batter recipe, so looked around for a Suzette a la Germain that resembled the orange-y goodness that we enjoyed. I settled on one, and realized partway through it that I had misread the directions, so improvised what I think is an AWESOME sauce:

Crepe Zipzette a la Germain (just the sauce)

Juice of 5 oranges

zest of 1-2 oranges

2Tb. sugar

1 Tb. butter

Heat these in a small saucepan about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and mix in 2 Tb. Grand Marnier. Once I'd made a batch of crepes, I folded one in half, dipped it through the sauce and folded it again (now quartered) onto the plate. Drizzle with more sauce, and sliced strawberries, bananas, orange, and some whipped cream.

Try not to let your eyes roll back in your head too much!